Terms like sublime or awe-inspiring, wild or terrifying, sacred or magic have left our urban lexicon. They feel needlessly florid to describe the everyday. They seem psychologically relegated to our large, remote national parks. Yet the spaces that are most meaningful, that draw us back time after time, are precisely those that have us tremble in desire, delight, disorientation. They titillate us with expectation. They paralyze us with awe. They release us into wonder.
The latest phases of the Riverwalk hint at this—providing an upfront and personal introduction to the dazzling and reflective world of this once-hidden waterfront. As we envision the southern expansion of this “recreational frontier”—we imagine an amplification of this burgeoning physical and sensory new memory—a series of connected places that capitalize on the river’s ability to provide provocative adventure, unexpected wildness, and phenomenal collision.
“The Riverwalk creates a profound intimacy between our citizens and their river. It’s our Yellowstone. It’s our Grand Canyon. The National Park that defines our city.” –Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago
We believe in the transformative power of place. The places in which we live our lives are more than physical spaces; they are the context and the content of our experience. Today, simultaneous revolutions of mobility, connectivity, and identity are changing our experience of the world and, along with it, our relationship to place. Now, more than ever before, what we create will shape the way we live.
Zidell Yards Master Plan, Portland, Oregon; Las Salina, Viña del Mar, Chile; Chicago Riverwalk, Chicago, Illinois; University of Bridgeport Campus Master Plan, Bridgeport, Connecticut; University of Washington Campus Master Plan and Innovation District Framework, Seattle, Washington.
